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Every once in a while I switch the TV channel from Fox to CNBC to see what the liberals are saying.Â After listening awhile I get a deep sense of hopelessness and foreboding for our country.Â The most important thing for the left is giving money to people.Â They are happy to see the growth of food stamps, disability payments, housing subsidies, free healthcare and all the other welfare benefits.Â They utterly fail to see the damage it is doing to the recipients.Â Whole cities that once flourished have deteriorated into rotting eyesores populated with shambling hulks of chemically dependent drones.Â These people are no longer employable.Â They have become incompetent and helpless and the liberals canâ€™t see that itâ€™s their doing.

2016 was supposed to be the year that the Federal Reserve "normalized" its policies. As much as two years ago – after years of a near-zero target rate – the Fed was swearing that it would begin to raise rates back to "normal" levels and cut its balance sheet. That never happened. Yes, the Fed has increased its target rate from 0.25 percent to 1 percent over the past 19 months. But if we look at this in context, it would be absurd to declare a target rate of 1 percent as anything other than an easy-money stance. Remember that throughout the 1990s, the Federal Funds rate was usually between 5 percent and 6 percent.

After December 2008, though, the target rate remained at 0.25 percent for seven years. Now that we're nine years into this "recovery" the Fed is talking about hiking rates, but we're in a strange world indeed when a 1 percent target rate looks like a central bank "tightening."

Moreover, we're still hearing precious little about the Fed normalizing its balance sheet, which remains heavy with assets purchased in the wake of the financial crisis to prop up asset prices. We keep hearing about how the economy is showing signs of strength, but nearly a decade after the last financial crisis, central banks – the Fed included – are still treating the economy as if it is extremely fragile and may fracture if upset in the slightest. Without a constant infusion of easy money, demand would likely collapse, and recession would follow soon after.